Lawyers negotiating settlement in museum discrimination suit

Lawyers expect to negotiate a settlement and avoid a trial in an art preparator's sex discrimination lawsuit against the state Board of Regents.

Preparator Lanora Pierce sued the board in federal court last year, saying she had been denied promotion to chief preparator at the University of Georgia's Georgia Museum of Art because of her gender.

The judge in the case last month denied the state's motion for summary judgment, saying Pierce had presented sufficient evidence to present a reasonable case at trial.

But both sides intend to settle the case instead of going to trial next month, lawyers said Monday.

"We are in the process of settling that case," said Pierce's lawyer, Janet Hill of Athens.

Lauren Kane, director of communications for Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, also confirmed that lawyers for Pierce and the state are negotiating a settlement

Neither Kane nor Hill would talk about specifics of the settlement negotiations.

Pierce sued the Board of Regents last year, saying administrators at the art museum had barred her promotion to chief preparator in favor of a man whose qualifications for the job were inferior to Pierce's.

Middle District of Georgia Judge Clay Land ruled late last month that Pierce could proceed with her lawsuit.

"Pierce pointed to sufficient evidence to create a genuine fact dispute on the question whether GMOA's proffered reasons for hiring (the man) instead of Pierce are pretextual," Land wrote in his Aug. 25 ruling.

Pierce also claims in her lawsuit that museum Director William Eiland retaliated against her because of a previous sex discrimination lawsuit she filed when she was denied another promotion at the art museum.

"A reasonable juror could conclude that Eiland declined to promote Pierce not because he thought she would make a bad supervisor, but because he viewed her as a troublemaker who complained too much about the violation of her rights under the employment laws of the United States," Land wrote in his ruling last month.